Information storage medium and method and system for reproducing data from the same

ABSTRACT

A recordable information storage medium having a plurality of information recording layers, where each of the information recording layers of the recordable information storage medium has a plurality of information recording layers each including a lead-in area, a user data area, a lead-out area, and a dedicated area for a drive. The amount of user data to be recorded is divided to allot the data area having the same capacity on each of the information recording layers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/023,591, filed on Dec. 29, 2004, currentlypending, which claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No.2004-13788, filed on Feb. 28, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in theirentirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information storage medium and amethod and a system recording data on the same, and more particularly,to an information storage medium, which includes a plurality ofrecording layers having a layout structure of a lead-in area, a lead-outarea, and a user data area to improve a recording speed and recordingperformance, and a method and a system recording data on the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, an information storage medium is used in relation to anon-contact type optical pickup device for recording/reproducing data. Atype of optical disk as an example of the information storage medium isdivided into a compact disk (CD) or a digital versatile disk (DVD) basedon the information recording capacity. In addition, examples of anerasable optical disk include 650 MB CD-R, CD-RW, and 4.7 GB DVD+RW.Furthermore, an HD-DVD having a recording capacity of 20 GB is beingdeveloped.

In order to increase the recording capacity, a shorter wavelength isused as a recording light source, and the numerical aperture of anobject lens is increased. In addition, a plurality of informationrecording layers are used. U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,032 issued on Mar. 9,1999 discloses a DVD-ROM having a plurality of information recordinglayers.

A sector address structure of a disk having dual information recordinglayers is shown in FIG. 1A. The disk in FIG. 1A has a first informationrecording layer L1 and a second information recording layer L2 that havelead-in areas 1 a and 2 a and lead-out areas 1 b and 2 b, respectively.On the first information recording layer L1, a first sector address X isincreased in a direction from an inner perimeter Rin of the disk to anouter perimeter Rout of the disk. On the second information recordinglayer L2, a second sector address X′ is increased in a direction fromthe outer perimeter Rout to the inner perimeter Rin of the disk.

On the other hand, a multi-layered optical disk having more than twoinformation recording layers can be divided into an opposite track path(OTP) and a parallel track path (PTP) based on directions ofrecording/reproducing data on/from the disk. The OTP reproduces datafrom the first information recording layer L1 in a direction from theinner perimeter Rin to the outer perimeter Rout and reproduces data fromthe second information recording layer L2 in a direction from the outerperimeter Rout to the inner perimeter Rin, as shown in FIG. 1B. In otherwords, the track spiral directions of the OTP optical disk arealternately formed on each of the information recording layers. Inaddition, FIG. 1C denotes an OTP multi-layered optical disk having firstthrough fourth information recording layers L1, L2, L3, and L4. In theOTP multi-layered optical disk, first through fourth lead-in areas 1 a,2 a, 3 a, and 4 a and first through fourth lead-out areas 1 b, 2 b, 3 b,and 4 b are alternately formed at the inner perimeter regions and theouter perimeter regions of the first through fourth informationrecording layers L1, L2, L3, and L4 of the disk, respectively. The datais reproduced from the first information recording layer L1 in thedirection from the inner perimeter Rin to the outer perimeter Rout, fromthe second information recording layer L2 in the direction from theouter perimeter Rout to the inner perimeter Rin, from the thirdinformation recording layer L3 in the direction from the inner perimeterRin to the outer perimeter Rout, and from the fourth informationrecording layer L4 in the direction from the outer perimeter Rout to theinner perimeter Rin

FIG. 2 denotes a PTP dual-layered optical disk having a firstinformation recording layer L1 from which data is reproduced in adirection from an inner perimeter Rin to an outer perimeter Rout and asecond information recording layer L2 from which data is reproduced in adirection from the inner perimeter Rin to the outer perimeter Rout. Inother words, track spiral directions of the information recording layersare the same. A first lead-in area 1 a is formed at the inner perimeterportion of the first information recording layer L1, a first lead-outarea 1 b is formed at the outer perimeter portion of the firstinformation recording layer L1, a second lead-in area 2 a is formed atthe inner perimeter portion of the second information recording layerL2, and a second lead-out area 2 b is formed at the outer perimeterportion of the second information recording layer L2.

In the case of a multi-layered recordable disk, the lead-in areas 1 a, 2a, 3 a, and 4 a and the lead-out areas 1 b, 2 b, 3 b, and 4 b includeinformation about the disk and various conditions about recording.Accordingly, user data can be properly recorded and reproduced whenreproducing the user data from the lead-in areas 1 a, 2 a, 3 a, and 4 aand the lead-out areas 1 b, 2 b, 3 b, and 4 b.

When the amount of the data to be recorded on the multi-layeredinformation storage medium is smaller than the capacity of theinformation recording layers, there is an empty area on at least oneinformation recording layer.

A method of processing the empty area of the information recording layershould be determined for various information storage media. FIG. 3Aillustrates a single-layered recordable information storage medium, andFIG. 3B illustrates a dual layered recordable information storagemedium. The locations and the capacities of lead-in areas, lead-outareas, and user data areas are fixed.

On the other hand, the data may be recorded on the entire area of thedata area of the first information recording layer L1 and on a portionof the data area of the second information recording layer L2, as shownin FIG. 4. When a beam passes through the first information recordinglayer L1 and the second information recording layer L2, the beam maypass through a portion L1R of the first information recording layer L1on which the data is recorded and a portion L2N of the secondinformation recording layer L2 on which the data is not recorded, or thebeam may pass through portions L1R and L2R of the first and secondinformation recording layers L1 and L2 on which the data is recorded.Thus, when the reproducing conditions of the areas through which thebeam passes are different, a reproducing characteristic may be affected.

As described above, when determining the layout of an informationstorage medium, the consistency and unity with the information storagemedium of a particular type should be considered and the reproducingperformance of a multi-layered information storage medium should beconsidered. In addition, it is important to improve a recording speedaccording to the increase of a recording capacity.

For example, a conventional recordable DVD has a single informationrecording layer and a capacity of 4.7 GB. On the other hand, aconventional DVD-ROM has a capacity of 8.5 GB and dual informationrecording layers. However, in order to back up the data from a DVD-ROMhaving a capacity of 8.5 GB, a recordable DVD having the same capacityis required. In addition, a method of efficiently recording data isrequired to reduce a back-up time of the data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an informationstorage medium on which a layout structure of areas is defined tominimize a recording time and efficiently move a pickup betweeninformation recording layers, and a method of and a system recordingdata on the same are provided.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided arecordable information storage medium having a plurality of informationrecording layers, wherein each of the information recording layersincludes a lead-in area, a user data area, a lead-out area, and adedicated area for use with a drive, and the amount of user data to berecorded is divided to allot the data area having the same capacity oneach of the information recording layers.

In an aspect of the present invention, the location of the lead-out areavaries according to the capacity of the data area.

In an aspect of the present invention, the dedicated area is arranged atthe outmost perimeter of the information storage medium.

In an aspect of the present invention, when an area remains between thelead-out area and the dedicated area, data is not recorded in that area.

In an aspect of the present invention, the dedicated area is a testarea, and the location of the dedicated area is fixed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of recording data on a recordable information storage mediumhaving a plurality of information recording layers, wherein each of theinformation recording layers includes a lead-in area, a user data area,a lead-out area, and a dedicated area for use with a drive, the methodincluding performing a test on the dedicated area for the drive,dividing the amount of the user data to be recorded into the number ofthe information recording layers and recording the same amount of dataon each of the information recording layers, and recording the datahaving a lead-out property following the data area of each of theinformation recording layers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for recording data on a recordable information storage mediumhaving a plurality of information recording layers, wherein each of theinformation recording layers includes a lead-in area, a user data area,a lead-out area, and a dedicated area for a drive, including a pickupunit radiating a beam to the information storage medium, arecording/reproducing signal process unit receiving the beam reflectedon the information storage medium through the pickup unit and performinga signal process, and a control unit performing a test in the dedicatedarea for the drive and dividing the amount of user data to be recordedinto the number of the information recording layers to record the sameamount of data on each of the information recording layers.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1A illustrates a sector address structure of a conventional DVD-ROMdouble-layered optical disk;

FIG. 1B illustrates the arrangement of lead-in areas and lead-out areasof a conventional DVD-ROM opposite track pack (OTP) dual-layered opticaldisk;

FIG. 1C illustrates the arrangement of lead-in areas and lead-out areasof a conventional OTP four-layered optical disk;

FIG. 2 illustrates the arrangement of lead-in areas and lead-out areasof a conventional DVD-ROM parallel track path (PTP) four-layered opticaldisk;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are layouts of a conventional single-layered informationstorage medium and a conventional dual-layered information storagemedium, respectively;

FIG. 4 illustrates regions to which a beam is input in the case wheredata is recorded on portions of a conventional dual-layered informationstorage medium;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are layouts of a dual information storage mediumaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are layouts of a four-layered information storage mediumaccording to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a system of recording and/or reproducing data on/froman information storage medium according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the presentinvention by referring to the figures.

An information storage medium according to an embodiment of the presentinvention has a plurality of information recording layers. Referring toFIG. 5A, each of the information recording layers includes a data areaon which user data is recorded, and a lead-in area and a lead-out areathat are arranged at an inner perimeter and an outer perimeter of thedata area, respectively.

The information storage medium according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may be applied to a recordable information storage medium, andmore efficiently, to a recordable information storage medium on whichthe amount of data to be recorded is determined before recording data.

When an information storage medium includes a plurality of informationrecording layers, the amount of data to be recorded is divided into thenumber of the information recording layers in order to record the sameamount of data on each of the information recording layers. In otherwords, the capacities and the locations of the data areas and thelead-out areas may vary according to the amount of the data to berecorded.

FIG. 5A illustrates an opposite track path (OTP) dual layer informationstorage medium, and FIG. 5B illustrates a parallel track path (PTP) duallayer information storage medium. Referring to FIG. 5A, the dual layerinformation storage medium includes a first information recording layerL1 and a second information recording layer L2, and the informationrecording layers L1 and L2 include lead-in areas 20-L1 and 20-L2, dataareas 30-L1 and 30-L2, and lead-out areas 40-L1 and 40-L2, respectively.In addition, when the amount of data to be recorded is predetermined,the amount of data is divided into halves and each half is allotted tothe data areas 30-L1 and 30-L2, respectively. The reference character Cdenotes the maximum of the user data to be recorded.

In addition, the lead-out areas 40-L1 and 40-L2 are arranged at theouter perimeters of the data areas 30-L1 and 30-L2 of the informationrecording layers to record the data in a pattern having a lead-outproperty. Thus, a location of the lead-out areas 40-L1 and 40-L2 variesdepending on the amount of data recorded.

In this case, the lead-in area and the lead-out area that are located inthe middle in a data recording direction may be referred to as a middlearea or a connection area. In other words, the lead-out area 40-L1 ofthe first information recording layer L1 and the lead-out area 40-L2 ofthe second information recording layer L2 in FIG. 5A, and the lead-outarea 40-L1 of the first information recording layer L1 and the lead-inarea 20-L2 of the second information recording layer L2 may be referredto as the middle areas or the connection areas.

On the other hand, an information storage medium according to anembodiment of the present invention includes a dedicated area for use bya recording and/or reproducing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as adrive) in order for the drive to read recording information beforerecording user data. The dedicated area may include, for example, a testarea for performing a test for detecting an optimum recording power of arecording medium and/or an area of recording information about recordinghistories of the drive.

However, the test in the drive is performed before recording the userdata, thus it is impossible to recognize the amount of data to berecorded. Therefore, the drive cannot determine the location ofperforming the test. As a result, the location of a test area should befixed.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, dedicated areas for use by a drive, forexample, test areas 45-L1 and 45-L2 may be fixed at the outmostperimeter of the information recording layers L1 and L2. When aninformation storage medium is loaded in the drive, the drive performstests using the test areas 45-L1 and 45-L2 and records data. Thereafter,the drive records the pattern having the lead-out property at the outerperimeter of data areas 30-L1 and 30-L2, which are set depending on thesize of the data to be recorded. The lead-out property is a data patternto prohibit a pickup from separating from an information storage medium.

In the case where an empty area exists in the test areas 40-L1 and 40-L2when the recording of the pattern having the lead-out property isfinished, the areas 43-L1 and 43-L2 between the lead-out areas 40-L1 and40-L2 and the test areas 45-L1 and 45-L2, respectively, remain empty.Since the empty areas 43-L1 and 43-L2 are present, a recording time canbe reduced compared to a case where the pattern having the lead-outproperty is recorded at the outmost perimeter of a recording medium. Inaddition, in order to efficiently move a pickup between recordinglayers, the recording may be performed according to an OTP type.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an OTP multi-layered information storagemedium and a PTP multi-layered information storage medium includingfirst through fourth information recording layers L1, L2, L3, and L4,respectively.

The first through fourth information recording layers L1, L2, L3, and L4include lead-in areas 20-L1, 20-L2, 20-L3, and 20-L4, data areas 30-L1,30-L2, 30-L3, and 30-L4, lead-out areas 40-L1, 40-L2, 40-L3, and 40-L4,and dedicated areas for a drive 45-L1, 45-L2, 45-L3, and 45-L4,respectively.

The amount of data to be recorded is divided to be approximately equallydistributed among the data areas 30-L1, 30-L2, 30-L3, and 30-L4 eachhaving the same capacity that are formed on the first through fourthinformation recording layers L1, L2, L3, and L4, respectively. Inaddition, the lead-out areas 40-L1, 40-L2, 40-L3, and 40-L4 are arrangedfollowing the data areas 30-L1, 30-L2, 30-L3, and 30-L4 on which theuser data is recorded. The reference character C designates a maximumamount of user data that may be recorded. The pattern having a lead-outproperty is recorded on the lead-out areas 40-L1, 40-L2, 40-L3, and40-L4.

The dedicated areas 45-L1, 45-L2, 45-L3, and 45-L4 may be arranged atthe outmost perimeter of the information recording layers L1, L2, L3,and L4. When areas remain between the lead-out areas 40-L1, 40-L2,40-L3, and 40-L4 and the dedicated areas 45-L1, 45-L2, 45-L3, and 45-L4,these areas are empty 43-L1, 43-L2, 43-L3 and 43-L4.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system recording/reproducing data on/from aninformation storage medium according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

A system recording/reproducing data includes a pickup unit 50, arecording/reproducing signal process unit 60, and a control unit 70.More specifically, the system includes a laser diode 51 of radiating abeam, a collimating lens 52 of collimating the beam radiated from thelaser diode 51, a beam splitter 54 of converting the path of theincidence beam, and an objective lens 56 of concentrating the beam fromthe beam splitter 54 on an information storage medium D.

The beam reflected from the information storage medium D is reflected onthe beam splitter 54 and received by an optical detector, for example, aquadrant optical detector 57. The beam received by the optical detector57 is converted into electric signals by passing through an operationcircuit unit 58 and output as RF signals, In other words, channel Ch1detects a sum of signals and differential signal channel Ch2 detectspush-pull signals.

Referring to FIG. 5A, by way of example, the control unit 70 performs atest in test areas 45-L1 and 45-L2 of the information storage medium Dbefore recording data on the information storage medium D. In addition,the control unit 70 records approximately the same amount of user dataon each of the information recording layers L1 and L2 of the informationstorage medium D. The control unit 70 controls the pickup unit 50 toradiate a recording beam of a proper power, which is obtained by thetest, to record the user data on the information storage medium D. Whenthe recording of the user data is finished, the pattern of a lead-outproperty is recorded in at least one of the lead-out areas 40-L1 or40-L2.

In addition, when areas 43-L1 and 43-L2 remain between the data areasand the test areas 45-L1 and 45-L2, the control unit 70 finishes therecording without recording data on the areas 43-L1 and 43-L2 (i.e., theareas are left empty).

In order to reproduce the data from the information storage medium D, abeam reflected from the information storage medium D is input to theoptical detector 57 by passing through the objective lens 56 and thebeam splitter 54. The signals input to the optical detector 57 areconverted into electric signals by the operation circuit unit 58 andoutput as RF signals.

A method of recording data according to aspects of the present inventionrecognizes the amount of data to be recorded on an information storagemedium when the information storage medium is loaded on a drive, andperforms a test on a dedicated area for the drive, for example, a testarea of the information storage medium. Thereafter, the amount of thedata is divided to allot data areas having approximately the same amounton each of information recording layers. Then, the data is recordedbased on the allotted amount of data, and the data having a lead-outproperty is recorded following the data areas on the informationrecording layers.

On the other hand, when areas remain between the lead-out areas and thededicated areas for the drive, these areas are empty.

As described above, an information storage medium according to aspectsof the present invention provides a physical layout of a recordableinformation storage medium. The information storage medium according toaspects of the present invention includes a plurality of informationrecording layers having lead-in areas, data areas, and lead-out areas,and the data areas are allotted to record approximately the same amountof data on each of the information recording layers. In addition, alayout for remaining areas after the recording of the data is providedto minimize a data recording time.

Furthermore, a method and a system of recording data according toembodiments of the present invention may efficiently record data on aninformation storage medium.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A method of reproducing user data from an information storage mediumcomprising a plurality of recording layers, the method comprisingreproducing the user data from user data areas of the recording layers,wherein: each recording layer includes a lead-in area, a user data area,a lead-out area, and a dedicated area for use with a drive, an amount ofthe user data recorded on the user data areas on the recording layers isless than a capacity of the user data areas, and the user data wasdivided, prior to recording, into approximately equal portions equal innumber to the recording layers, and one of each portion of the user datawas allotted to one of each user data area during recording such thateach data area has an approximately equal amount of the user data oneach recording layer, and capacities of the user data areas vary equallyaccording to the amount of the user data recorded, and each recordinglayer further includes an unrecorded area where the user data is notrecorded, between the lead-out area and the dedicated area, and eachunrecorded area has an approximately equal capacity and is positioned atthe same radial position of the each recording layer.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein each dedicated area is arranged at the outmostperimeter of the storage medium.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thededicated area is a test area.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein alocation of each dedicated area is fixed.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein each dedicated area is arranged at an outmost perimeter of eachrecording layer of the information storage medium.
 6. A systemreproducing user data from an information storage medium having aplurality of recording layers, wherein each recording layer includes alead-in area, a user data area, a lead-out area, and a dedicated areafor use with the system, the system comprising: a pickup unit whichradiates a beam on the information storage medium; and a control unitwhich controls the pickup unit to radiate the beam to reproduce the userdata from the user data areas of the recording layers, an amount of theuser data on the recording layers being less than a total capacity ofthe user data areas, and the user data was divided, prior to recording,into approximately equal portions equal in number to the recordinglayers, and one of each portion of the user data was allotted to one ofeach user data area such that an approximately equal amount of the userdata is recorded on each recording layer, wherein capacities of the userdata areas vary equally according to the amount of the user data to berecorded, and wherein each recording layer further includes anunrecorded area where the user data is not recorded, between thelead-out area and the dedicated area, and each unrecorded area has anapproximately equal capacity and is positioned at the same radialposition of the each recording layer.
 7. A reproducing apparatus,comprising: an optical pickup to reproduce user data from recordinglayers of an information storage medium; and a controller which controlsthe optical pickup to reproduce the user data from the recording layers,wherein a size of the user data is less than a total capacity of therecording layers, and the user data is divided, prior to recording, intoapproximately equal portions equal in number to the recording layers andone of each portion of the user data is allotted to one of eachrecording layer, and to reproduce the allotted approximately equallydivided user data from a user data area of each recording layer with arecorded lead-out property pattern delineating a boundary of the dataarea on each recording layer, and the lead-out property pattern isrecorded in a lead-out area, and capacities of the user data areas varyequally according to the amount of the user data recorded, wherein eachrecording layer further includes an unrecorded area where the user datais not recorded, between the lead-out area and the dedicated area, andeach unrecorded area has an approximately equal capacity and ispositioned at the same radial position of the each recording layer. 8.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a fixed area of each recording layeris at an outmost perimeter of the information storage medium.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein capacities of the user data areas varyaccording to the amount of user data to be recorded.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the user data is divided equally over each of therecording layers.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein the user data isdivided equally over each of the recording layers.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 7, wherein capacities of the user data areas vary equallyaccording to the amount of the user data to be recorded.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein the user data is divided equally over eachof the recording layers.
 14. A method of reproducing user data from aninformation storage medium comprising a plurality of recording layers,the method comprising: reproducing the user data from user data areas ofthe recording layers, wherein: each recording layer includes a lead-inarea, a user data area, a lead-out area, and a dedicated area for usewith a drive, and the user data was divided, prior to recording, intoapproximately equal portions equal in number to the recording layers,and one of each portion of the user data was allotted to one of eachrecording layer so that a capacity of each user data area is variedequally according to the division of the user data among the recordinglayers, and wherein each recording layer further includes an unrecordedarea where the user data is not recorded, between the lead-out area andthe dedicated area, and each unrecorded area has an approximately equalcapacity and is positioned at the same radial position of the eachrecording layer.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the capacity ofeach user data area is approximately equal.
 16. The method of claim 14,wherein a location of the lead-out area on each recording layer dependson the equal division of the user data among the recording layers.